Farewell to November

A delphinium grew in my garden in November!

This young delphinium stalk in my front garden was determined to spring up and flower, without waiting for spring to come. When I pruned a nearby rose bush, some of the branches knocked the delphinium over, so I brought it in and put it on the kitchen table in order to savor its wonderful color, a delicious departure from the autumnal tones that can be found all around, though the rain and wind storms we've been having will mean the end of the last bright red and gold blazes of leaves on nearby trees. I love that blue color on flowers. It is so ethereal, so like the summer sky.

This week I've been musing about my upcoming event,  The Poetry of Aging, which I am offering in two days at the Ashland Library. Years ago, I was rather shy about performing, but now it is one of my favorite ways to share with others. I have come to understand that it is a gift to be so relaxed about it and to enjoy it so much.

I haven't figured out an organized menu for presenting the poetry. I do have some poems grouped by themes. I'm still deciding whether I need to have a set order for the poems, or whether to be more fluid in the way I bring them out.  Either way, it is going to be a lot of fun and I think the audience will enjoy it. Poetry allows us to share in ways that are not possible with our everyday language. "Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason," the poet Novalis said.

I am happy that I found a woman to film the event. I'm planning to create a DVD and make it available through our website and at Sage's Play events. Stay tuned for more on how The Poetry of Aging transpires.

We'Moon

Louise Pare, Ph.D. Women's Spirituality

 Last weekend, I attended a celebration offered by We'Moon, a group of women who publish a calendar and a daybook filled with womens' art, writings and astrological observations. We'Moon has been publishing for over 30 years and is based here in southern Oregon. My friend Louise Pare was very happy to have an excerpt from one of her poems published in the 2013 calendar.

We'Moon contributors come from all over the country. It was wonderful to meet some of the women who contributed, to see their beautiful paintings and prints and to hear their poetry and essays. I met Bedo there. An artist that reads this blog, Bedo came down from Cottage Grove to celebrate having some of her art in the calendar.

Congratulations Louise, Bedo and all the other women whose work is collected in this beautiful and inspiring resource. By now, the longtime organizers, such as Bethroot, have become elders, and they are excellent models of how to inspire, engage and contribute.


This is in the "you never know what is coming next in life" department

Much to my surprise and delight, my old friend Serena invited me to accompany her on a cruise to the Mayan ruins at the time of the winter solstice, which is the time some people call "the end of the Mayan calendar." The Mayans view it as a shift into another era of Mayan time. The notion of taking a cruise is not something that probably would have occurred to me on my own, but thanks to Serena, I will be having a new adventure. So far I have only glanced at the materials about where we are going and what we are doing. I may wind up reading more about it, but maybe not.

I know there is something about the goddess Ixchel. I know we will be meeting a Mayan shaman at one of the ruins.

I am really looking forward to this unexpected new experience.

I've known Serena for many years, but we haven't spent any time together for a long time.  We met as part of a group of healers called The Church of the Gentle Brothers and Sisters. A couple of other members of that group will be on the cruise, too. It will be great to connect with each other.

What a generous gift she is giving me in inviting me to be her guest.

This is the cruise ship. We leave in mid-December. I will tell you all about it when I get back.

Have your checked out Retirement and Inspirement Coaching, a service we are offering to help people maximize their later years?

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Living In the Community

The Greensprings area

 I've been here in the Ashland, Oregon neighborhood since 1977--the years have accumulated. The town and surrounding area has changed considerably in some ways, with many more new residents from urban places like SF, LA and NY.  It's speedier than it used to be, and more sophisticated.

Southern Oregon is a beautiful region and a healthy place to live on many levels. I think that there is a greater variety of high-quality organic food available here at lower prices than anywhere else. There are wonderful hikes, swimming holes, dance, yoga, marathons and other ways to be physically active.

The Ashland community is artistic and educated; there's plenty of workshops, performances and other gatherings to choose from. I have a lot of dear friends here. Yesterday I drove up to the Greensprings to visit two of them for Thanksgiving.  It was a marvelous meal and it was a sumptuous repast to be with them, too.

I had a tour of our grassroots media world this week. It was an easy tour because this is not a big city. We have only two community media outlets here. First I went on Craig Comstock's show Like Wow! which airs on RVTV, a cable station whose offices are part of Southern Oregon University. Craig and I talked about positive aging. It was a lot of fun. I will post a link to the show when it is available. I believe it's airing on December 3rd at 8pm for those of you who are in the Rogue Valley.

Craig Comstock

 Craig is a great interviewer. He has a nice sense of humor and moves from topic to topic very easily. I don't get nervous when I speak in public or in media situations, but he made me feel even more relaxed and comfortable than I already did.

We talked about stereotypes, misconceptions, positive solutions and inspiring elders, among other things. Of course, I talked about A New Wrinkle, our musical revue. I had the chance to sing Baba Yaga's Raga (wow, I am looking forward to seeing how that looks) and Craig and I did some alternate line reading of part of the song Ancestors, the choral piece that begins A New Wrinkle.

The front door to KSKQ, our  homegrown radio station

I also went on Lavelle Foos' KSKQ radio show Wonderful World of Women.

Both of these venues, RVTV and KSKQ, are arranged in a low-budget, minimalist style. Keynotes are make sure you dress warmly enough, the rug is tacky but it looks okay on camera, watch out for that shelf or you will hurt your head. RVTV's studio is roomy, but KSKQ's studio is quite tiny.

I loved the entry door at KSKQ, ornamented with a small windmill and some plastic chairs.

I am glad that community and grassroots media exist!  Our print and broadcast media have become rather monolithic. It's refreshing and important to have the freedom to share a wide variety of expressions, not simply those that align with high profile people and mainstream views.

It was great to connect with Lavelle via her show. I've known Lavelle for decades. She is a sculptor, coppersmith and musician. She plays beautiful native American  flute and she is a wonderful artist.  You can learn more about her art at her website.

Lavelle Foos

Lavelle and I enjoyed talking with each other for an hour about creative, conscious aging. It was invigorating for both of us, and hopefully for the listeners, too. During the show, Lavelle played Sex after 60,  one of the songs from A New Wrinkle. You can hear an mp3 of that song and three others at our website, www.sagesplay.com

That was my brief grassroots media blitz, at least for now.  This weekend, I'm back to writing more songs and developing a new class series for 2013.

The Poetry of Aging

I'll be offering The Poetry of Aging at the Ashland Library on Sunday, December 2nd at 1pm.  I will be performing poems about aging by many different poets, including Yeats, Shakespeare, May Sarton, Dylan Thomas and others.  The event is presented at no charge by the library. Please join us if the spirit moves you. It is going to be a lot of fun!

The Poetry of Aging

If you are in southern Oregon, you may like to participate in The Poetry of Aging, an event I am offering on December 2nd at the Ashland Library.

I am jazzed about it! For several reasons. One, it is a marvelous program that will move you, stretch you and give you food for thought.  If you are thirsty for the deep song that poetry brings, it will bring to your ears a refreshing music.

On a personal note, this event is a wonderful chance for me to offer my thanks for having lived in the Ashland area for over 30 years. It's a wonderful place and I have experienced many blessings and much growth here.

Actually I moved here in 1977. I notice that I am often saying "for over 30 years." It's not confined to remarks about how long I've lived here. Instead, the phrase "for over 30 years" seems to have entered my vocabulary as a way of talking about various items in my past. I've been a Buddhist for over 30 years. I've been involved in holistic and spiritual healing for over 30 years. You get the picture.

Back to The Poetry of Aging--I am glad to have this opportunity to share my passion for creative aging and to engage my own creative gifts through the medium of poetry. I've been collecting poetry on aging for several years, but it just occurred to me recently to develop a performance event to share it. Some of the poems are well-known by poetry lovers, such as W.B. Yeats poem Sailing to Byzantium and Dylan Thomas' poem Fern Hill which I set to music many years ago. But most are not much known. It is going to be wonderful, and it will be even more so if you are there.

As Stanley Kunitz said, “The poem comes in the form of a blessing—‘like rapture breaking on the mind'."

Be advised!

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.  ~Plato

Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.  ~Novalis

The Week That Was

Some of the very last roses from the garden

A quiet, cold Sunday punctuated with a few sunny interludes. The golden leaves of the cottonwood tree ornament the yard with a delightful carpet.

Was it just Election Day on Tuesday? It seems so long ago already. I had already voted by mail two weeks before. I felt rather confident that Obama was going to win. He did win, thankfully.

We are in a big enough mess in this country and on this planet without voting in a person more like a replicant than a human being, or a political party with such harsh, antiquated stances as Republicans seem to have right now. Why are they called parties, I wonder. They are hardly party like. I myself could use a good party. That would include good friends, good food, dancing, laughing and singing, and sun would be a bonus.

Yay! Obama won.  On Election Day, I headed for the Enneagram class I've been taking at OLLI (Osher Life Long Learning Institute--do you have one in your community?) I enjoy reflecting on the Enneagram, a system of personality typing that comes out of Sufi teachings, yet the class has left me rather bored. But it is almost over. That's the thing one can count on--things will end. Just as I would like to attend a really excellent party, I would enjoy being in a challenging class. I am looking for both of these items.

On the eve of Election Day, I headed out to Tashi Choling, the Tibetan Buddhist temple that I belong to. It was a holy day and we celebrated with a wonderful puja. I have been practising with this sangha for over 30 years now. Ah, what a fortunate woman I am. When I got home, I found out that Obama had won the election.

The next day, I went to the assisted living facility where my dear friend Kate lives. I presented The Poetry of Aging, a program I will be offering soon at the Ashland Library.  Most of the people who live in that assisted living facility have cognitive impairments. In the group that attended, only one person was cognitively impaired. She was 66. Other people told her that. She didn't remember it herself, though she was quite lively and engaged. There were also 3 people in their 90s, a retired college professor who loves poetry and my friend Kate who is a mythic figure in my book of life--maybe 8 people in all. I read poems from Neruda, Yeats, May Sarton, Anna Swir, A. R. Ammons, Donald Hall and others--all on the subject of aging.  It was quite wonderful. You can convey things by reading poetry that go far beyond ordinary conversation.

Kate told me that I was like the person bringing water to the people in the desert. I have thought a great deal about that, how people can be cared for physically, but suffer because their psyches are neglected. The dumbing-down process, Kate calls it. It pervades our culture, but is especially obvious in the way we care for or relate to older adults. I would like to offer another program there sometime soon, creating a space where people can talk about their inner lives.

Performing poetry is something that I enjoy tremendously. I plan to offer this program through Sage's Play.

An autumn still life in the kitchen

The 93-year old yogini and dancer Tao Porchon-Lynch

I create still lives throughout my dwelling. They change with the seasons or because I feel the urge to shift things around. This is a still life that collected itself in the kitchen near the stove.

This week flew by. I went to a yoga class at the senior center (which could stand some philosophical updating as far as I'm concerned--the senior center, not the yoga class). I love the yoga teacher who is probably in her 70s and is very sensitive to the limitations that many older adults have when doing yoga. She teaches people to pay attention to their bodies and not stress their bodies out to the point of pain.

 Someone posted this wonderful photo of Tao Porchon-Lynch on Facebook the other day. I wrote about her a year or two ago in this blog. She's 93 now. Just look at her vibrant beauty. Tao has been doing yoga since childhood. She has a yoga center on the east coast. I think she is a wonderful example of positive outlook and lifestyle.

This morning, I got to Skype with Ina Albert, one of my Sage-ing friends. Ina lives in Montana, where she teaches Sage-ing classes at the local community college. I love connecting with her. I also connected with Carol Scott-Kassner, who is the current leader of Sage-ing International. She suggested that I might like a creative movement called InterPlay. I went to their website, and boy, it sure sounds like a lot of fun. Like a big party! I plan to get in touch with them and see how I can connect with their very interesting creative work soon.

 I've been working on a new song for our musical revue. It's about Social Security and Medicare.  The title is When I'm 65.  I am nearly done. That was my week, or part of it. I finished reading Rick Moody's book The Five Stages of the Soul and started in on Connie Goldman's book Secrets of the Late Bloomers. I played with my daughter's dog, whose swift and hilarious runs in the yard were quite delightful. I lay in my bed and gazed out the window at the chartreuse striated leaves of the lilac bush and the shiny dark green leaves of the climbing rose and the gray green of the fir tree. I looked at the sky at night. I baked corn muffins. I meditated. I mused about the brevity of life. I thought about my daughter traveling in Europe. I put my hands in the wet earth. I put my face up to the rain.  What about you?

Playfulness, Sage-ing and A New Wrinkle

When we play, we step out of ordinary time, and get free of self-consciousness.

Playfulness is wonderful because it lifts us out of mundane concerns and sets us free in a beautiful open field, where we have a chance to express ourselves spontaneously.

I offered a workshop on Playfulness and the Art of Aging at the Sage-ing International conference. Wow, was that fun! Over 30 people participated. The sharing we did on our childhood play experiences was marvelous, and sometimes very touching. We made faces, funny sounds, told stories, made believe in various ways and we laughed and laughed.  What a pleasure.

I also had a chance to perform some of the songs from A New Wrinkle, our musical revue on aging, at the conference.  I love performing. It is a form of play that I find very freeing. And to perform in front of such a welcoming, loving audience was very exhilarating indeed. I sang Baba Yaga's Raga and excerpts from Sex after 60, and shared the lyrics of Death is Right around the Corner, too. Dr. Rick Moody and I were sitting next to each other that evening. His comments really made my heart sing! When I came back to the table after performing, he was enthusiastic. "Genius!" he exclaimed. Wow, okay, that's a good review in my book. Later he told me, "Your performance was the capstone of the conference."

Thank you, Dr. Moody. That kind of affirmation and encouragement is helpful to me as an artist and human being. He gave me some other feedback too, suggesting that I could add stand-up comedy to my repertoire. Ha ha ha. Seriously. I do love being funny, silly and foolish. I appreciated his comments and the self-reflection they afforded. And yes, it felt great to have the songs from A New Wrinkle so appreciated by the Sage-ing folks.

Composer Laura Rich and I continue to work on new songs we are creating for A New Wrinkle. I'm working on one about Medicare and Social Insecurity right now. I've written lyrics for another song titled The Silver Tsunami as well as two songs that are meant to contrast with each other on ways of perceiving the aging body. One is sung by a woman who thinks plastic surgery will solve her problems, and the other is a gospel song The Body is the Temple of the Soul. I know they are going to be fun together. That's what's happening with A New Wrinkle at the moment.

I wanted to share some comments from Sue Shoemaker, who came to the Sage-ing conference from Michigan. I first met Sue on ElderwomanSpace, an Internet community we both belong to. It was delightful to meet her in person. I think that her comments are insightful, especially since this conference was her first experience with Sage-ing. Now she is headed to Indiana to take the Sage-ing Leadership training! You go, Sue!

Sue liked  "the consistent references to storytelling ... right from the beginning, we brought our voices into the room by telling the story of the water we brought from home. Gaea's workshop really brought out the storyteller in each of the participants. When they talked about their joyful childhood memories, it was clear they found enjoyment in the remembering and telling. I attended the workshop The Power of Storytelling, and it was clear that we all are natural storytellers. We had lots of opportunities to share what we we thinking and what we have learned."

Sue continues, "In all of the sessions, there was a healthy blend of listening and sharing.  It was extremely participatory.  For me the opening session, singing that beautiful song BY BREATH  touched me deeply. Then to be welcomed by the gentleman from the Cherokee Tribe, realizing we were meeting in the part of the country that they inhabit. I also appreciated that all of the people who were fairly renowned were as friendly and approachable as anyone else. LAUGHTER -- from the session on Playfulness to the various Plenary Sessions, humorous comments and stories led to lots of laughter.  Don't think I heard any complaints, gripes or curmudgeonly comments the whole time I was there. I also did not hear about any health issues, surgeries, or aches and pains."

Sue also pointed out the spiritual quality that was an important part of the conference. "I am sure that is why the opening and closing sessions resonated so deeply with me.  I felt a connection that moved me deeply inside. Having been disconnected from "religious" experiences for several years now, the music on that first night moved my being in the way that certain spiritual music has touched me in the past."

Thanks, Sue.  Your comments tell a good story about the conference.

I also met Ina Albert in person for the first time at the conference. Ina is a Sage-ing leader who lives in White Fish, Montana. She and I we realized we were kindred spirits and started connecting by email and phone.  I asked Ina to send me some of her observations about the conference to include here. They will be part of my next blog essay.

We are familiar with the various ways people dress up and decorate themselves in our culture in an every day way.  Halloween is nearly here, and people are getting ready to go even further, take on alter egos and make believe they are Elvis, the upstairs maid,  Mary Poppins or some chap from Transylvania.

I think the Omo culture has magical ways of dressing and ornamenting themselves. This one image will give you some idea of what I mean. If you want to see more gorgeous Omo costuming from natural materials, get thee to Google and do a search.

The Omo tribe's traditional ways of dressing and ornamenting is very beautiful/.

On another note entirely, I love this funny Halloween group therapy cartoon.


Just before I went out to a meeting this afternoon, I headed to the mailbox and found The Five Stages of the Soul, by Dr. Moody and his co-writer David Carrol. I began to read it before I left for the meeting, thinking of one of Rick Moody's comments to me. "Let yourself go even more," he said. Yes, indeed. Letting go of the so-called self is one of the big jobs of aging.

I know I'm going to love this book, which explores the wish for meaning in life, especially later life. But more on that anon.

Sage-ing International Conference: Gathering at the Lake

The conference was held at Lake Junaluska, a Methodist Church-run conference center outside of Asheville, NC

I just returned from the Sage-ing International conference, which was held at the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, a Methodist facility  in the mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina. It felt good that we were gathering at the big, peaceful lake.  Lakes have a strong association with the Feminine, with healing, fertility and growth. The surface of a big lake can be seen as a mirror for contemplation, consciousness and revelation. In Chinese symbology, the lake represents receptive wisdom and absorption. And the work of sage-ing contains all of these elements. 

Some Sage-ing History

The organization that is now called Sage-ing International began through the pioneering work of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, whose classic book From Age-ing to Sage-ing sets forth a powerful new vision of aging. At first, the organization was called Spiritual Eldering Institute. Then its name was changed to The Sage-ing Guild. The new name, Sage-ing International,  was chosen after considering many names submitted by members. The new name was announced at the conference.

Do you know anything about sage-ing and Reb Zalman's pioneering work? I encourage you to read his book if you haven't done so yet, and to learn more about him as a model of eldering. His contribution to the development of a new paradigm of aging is enormous.

A walking path circled the lake. We had sunny days--beautiful autumn weather.

I arrived at the lake in time to relax and unwind after travelling cross country. I took some long walks in the autumn sun.
 
I had hopes when I signed up for the conference, and they were met and sometimes even exceeded.  I wanted to meet people in the aging field that  I had heard about for years. I wanted to get to know how others in creative, conscious aging did their work. I wanted to learn more about the Sage-ing movement itself.

And I wanted to have the opportunity to share some songs from A New Wrinkle, our musical revue on aging, with an audience that I believed could give me useful feedback.

Bob Atchley

I met people.

Many wonderful people who touched my heart.


For instance, I met Bob Atchley. My friend Susan Bosworth studied with him at Naropa, and was always talking about him so I had wanted to meet him for years. Bob is a really delightful human being--funny, warm and engaging. After retiring from his academic career, he has taken up an encore career as a singer-songwriter. It was great fun to talk with him and see him perform his wonderful songs. Check out his website for more information on his music and workshops he offers.

I wanted to meet H.R. "Rick" Moody and Connie Goldman, too-- and I did! Connie began her career at NPR and has spent decades writing about aging. Her interviews and observations are well worth reading. You can check out her books and other services at her website.  

Rick Moody is Director of Academic Affairs at AARP.   I found Rick to be a generous, thoughtful and funny person. He made himself available to talk with people about a wide variety of topics, including marketing. It was a real joy to meet all three of these delightful folks.  I  hope my life and work brings me into contact with them again. 

H.R. "Rick" Moody (seated on left, in back) generously shared his wit and wisdom with us, including at two breakfast meetings devoted to marketing. 

The presentations I attended were all very well-done. I enjoyed learning more about storycatching from Christina Baldwin of PeerSpirit. I resonated with Ina Albert's workshop on the energetics of the heart and how we communicate through the heart.  I learned more about the intersection of spiritual direction and life coaching from Rev. Nancy N. DeStefano and Carol Scott-Kassner.

I was touched to be with those who have been involved in the evolution of the Sage-ing organization for many years, whose dedication has supported the organization as it has changed and grown. Thank you, all of you for your generosity and kindness.

I loved the plenary sessions where we all gathered  to brainstorm and create. The speakers were delightful, introducing topics with insight and humor. I especially liked the work we as a group did together on shifting the aging paradigm. The plenary session on spirituality and wisdom was quite wonderful, too.

Rituals were an integral part of the conference, and they were enriching and beautiful. During the final ritual,  the most elder among us were honored with ceremonial scarves representing the elements. The love in that room was resonant, let me tell you.

I joined Sage-ing International because I suspected the people in it might be kindred spirits. And I am happy to report that my suspicion was right. It felt very, very good to be so at home with scores of folks who had been strangers only hours before that. I met some people who moved me a great deal, with whom I shared deeply, and some of them will probably be my friends for years.

When you hang out with people in Sage-ing groups, you introduce yourself by name and then you say "and I have 71 years of life experience." Or whatever number of years it is you do have. That feels good, doesn't it? It did to me.

 Sage-ing International is a great place for you if you are an older adult who longs for meaningful connection, community and personal//spiritual growth.  In other words, you may want to join Sage-ing International yourself!

I want to write about Playfulness and the Art of Aging, the workshop I presented at the conference, and also the performance I did of some songs from A New Wrinkle, and I will do that in my next blog. I am feeling encouraged, stimulated, supported and loved, thanks to my conference experience.

These are some of the women I first met through ElderwomanSpace, an international internet community. It was wonderful to meet them in person at the conference!

The Elder Hall of Fame: Vandana Shiva

We have a Baseball Hall of Fame and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but as yet we do not have an Elder Hall of Fame to celebrate elders who are remarkable, outstanding examples of what human beings can be in their later years. I hope we don't have to wait too many more years before an Elder Hall of Fame is created.  I wonder what city it will be located in. 

 I like to imagine attending the yearly award ceremonies designed to honor elders in different fields. Can you feel how wonderful this would be, too? Having an Elder Hall of Fame that acknowledges the significant contributions of elders in the arts, science, the environment, philosophy, athletics, business, etc...It tickles me to imagine it coming into fruition.







I have quite a list of elders I want to nominate for the Elder Hall of Fame. They are people I deeply admire for their passionate commitment to their life work. Dr. Vandana Shiva is one of them. At 60, she is still a young elder.

Do you know of her and her work? Let me tell you something about it, and in the course of that, you will understand why I admire her so. Perhaps it's best to start by recognizing the breadth and depth of her vision.  Well-known as an environmental activist and author of numerous books, Shiva is inspiring, a brilliant thinker and a tireless advocate for the wellbeing of the Earth and its creatures.

To me, it seems that ecological/-environmental issues are the main issues of our time. We utterly depend upon the Earth's integrity, diversity and health in order to continue living here as a species. Most of us are quite aware of how the  globalization of corporate power has affected the Earth and its creatures. This is the arena in which Vandana Shiva chooses to work --exposing how global corporations are plundering the Earth, and developing solutions for that depredation.

Vandana Shiva was born in Dehra Dun, India at the foothills of the Himalayas. Her father was a conservator of forests and her mother was a farmer.  Both parents were staunch supporters of Gandhi and Shiva herself espouses Gandhi's philosophy, saying "I have tried to be the change I want to see." This statement is simple enough, but when a human embodies it as Vandana Shiva has done, it is deeply moving. That is to say, I am deeply moved by her vision, her dedication and the profoundly integrative understanding she brings to the biggest issues of our era.

Before becoming an activist, Dr. Shiva was one of India's leading physicists. Troubled by what she calls the dark side of science, she decided to become a theoretical physicist rather than a nuclear physicist as she had originally planned.  If it were not for her enormous curiosity about social issues, she might have settled into a rather quiet life in academia. That was not to be.

The listing of her books, research and organizations she has created is long. She has received many honors and much recognition, and rightly so. She is described as an eco-feminist because she speaks to the inclusion of women. She has fought for change in the way we view agriculture and food. She created Navdanya, an organization that has developed native seed banks on 57 areas of India, as a response to corporate attempts to control what is grown and how seeds are passed along. Do you know how important an issue seeds are? Without biodiversity and free native seed exchange, we are imprisoned in corporate control of seeding, subject to dangerous GMOs and prevented from growing food in a natural, local way.

The Utne Reader) describes Shiva as "a one-woman movement for peace, sustainability and social justice."  I have to agree with that description. She is a person who has plunged into major social// environmental issues and applied her intellect and passion to creating solutions. I have only touched on some of her interests, involvements and accomplishments.

If you are inspired to learn more about her and her life work, you can Google her books or read some of her Resurgence Magazine articles.

If you wanted, you could even get more involved than that in her work to support global biodiversity, 
small, decentralized and local agriculture other sustainability efforts. As is stated in a website devoted to her green work, "Ecological recovery cannot be based on centralized and globalised control over resources. It has to be based on the decentralized logic of Gandhi’s “ever-widening, never ascending’ circles."

Vandana Shiva: an elder worthy of praise and support. I nominate her for the Elder Hall of Fame.